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Abstract

The aim of this systematic review was to gather, review, summarize, and analyze the studies on professional identity construction in social media from various scholar perspectives. The search was conducted on the WoS Core Collection, Scopus, and EBSCOhost databases using keywords “professional identity construction” and “social media.” Seventeen full-text articles were studied searching for the essential aspects of professional identity construction. Results discussed professional identity as a complex phenomenon with two dominating perspectives: (a) professional identity as a cognitive structure and (b) professional identity as a social construct. Cognitive structures of professional identity construction in social media were mainly or partially covered in education, communication, medicine, and medical tourism-related contexts. Studies that envisage professional identity as socially constructed dominate in management, organizational, medical tourism, and neuroscience. The core topics of professional identity construction cover the blurring of professional stereotypes and reconstruction of multiple professional selves; merging public and private identities; belonging to a group and trusting social media. In researched papers, scholars argue virtual behavior can be predicted and smart technologies could help maintain physical and psychological balance. Findings show the overlapping landscape of studies and identify areas for future interdisciplinary research.

Keywords

identity construction professional self-presentation systematic literature review social media

Introduction

Professional identity is described as a homogeneous whole of the professional and personal self and can be studied from two perspectives. Researchers representing the first perspective investigated how an individual, as a part of a social structure, could influence identity construction. The other perspective deals with how the person as a group leader could influence the development of social structures. Almost 20 years ago, Stryker and Burke (2000) raised challenges that remain unresolved: how these two perspectives of identity theory are linked. In this article, we connect both perspectives, taking into consideration that they are equally important in understanding the professional self, interactions, and structures.

Although the notion of professional identity is the most widespread, some scholars speak about vocational identity (X. Li, Hou, & Jia, 2015) or career identity (Lysova, Richardson, Khapova, & Jansen, 2015) by identifying them with professional identity and using these three different terms alternatively. Professional identity has been extensively studied by scholars in social science, medicine, business and management, communication and information sciences. Multiple dimensions of identity, such as race, culture, class, religion, gender, or sexual orientation are explained and empirically grounded (Jones & McEwen, 2000). The professional roles of employees in different professions as a part of professional identity are empirically tested. For example, Akkerman and Meijer (2011) elaborated a professional identity as (a) simultaneously unitary and multiple, (b) continuous and discontinuous, and (c) individual and the same time social. Authors revealed that the coherent and consistent sense of a professional self within the professional identity could be maintained through a variety of individual and group participation and self-investment throughout the professional career (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011). In their qualitative longitudinal study on professional identity development, Hong, Greene, and Lowery (2017) highlighted three dimensions of professional identity construction—multiplicity versus unity, social versus individual, and discontinuity versus continuity. Continuing and expanding Jones and McEwen’s (2000) research with the Akkerman and Meijer (2011) framework, Hong et al. (2017) explored dimensions of professional identity development regarding the unity of self, the way the social environment is negotiated, and the shifting or continuing pattern over time. These dimensions explain the process of becoming a professional in different social contexts, but still this process is not generalized. The process of becoming is interpreted by Hong et al. (2017) as the construction, development, creation, or formation of professional identity. Irrespective of the use of these different concepts, they are all interlinked by the process of social construction, which is an essential component of the development of professional identity (Leeds-Hurwitz, 2009). Therefore, in this article, based on the social constructivist paradigm (Lock & Strong, 2010), the concept of professional identity construction will be used.

Technological convergence and digitization allowed traditional media to be carried to new types of media and influenced audio, data, and mass communication to take place in the same channel. Due to the Internet making mutual data communication possible, the concept of social media has emerged (Gunduz, 2017). In modern society, social media communication plays an important role in professional life. Social and mobile media communication takes place in various media channels. People operate and live virtual lives in social networks and online communities. Virtual communication goes beyond geographic boundaries and includes a wide range of physically unrecognized and unrelated users.

Social media prompts individuals to construct their online identities, negotiate and verify identity claims and—most important—to enact multiple identities (Stets & Serpe, 2016). Scholars agree that social media opens new opportunities for individuals to introduce themselves and their professions, but also raises challenges. Huang-Horowitz and Freberg (2016) proposed a conceptual model of professional identity message function. Professional identity messages were named as internal, and social media messages were identified as external. From the perspective of professional identity and its construction in social media, it could be hypothetically predicted how the individual represents her or his professional identity: The sending of a personal message reflects the professional activities in an organization through organizational commitment and values, monitoring and evaluating the whole professional community. Sincere and transparent personal messages of employees, their compliance with obligations, consistency, and commitments in continuous personal social media messages have direct links with engagement in organizational activities and direct the employee’s professional identity construction (Huang-Horowitz & Freberg, 2016).

Researchers in social media observe the development of a new social operating system called networked professional individualism (Dimitrova & Wellman, 2015; Ryberg & Larsen, 2008) and the emergence of networked groups, which operate in participatory professional spaces (Stanfield, Beddoe, Ballantyne, Lowe, & Renata, 2017). Networked job activities become routine, and networked creators manifest themselves through constructing their professional identities (Rainie & Wellman, 2012). In social media, professional identity changes through professional roles lead to context collapse. Context collapse means constructing multiple social network identities with different professional behavior expectations (Marwick & boyd, 2011). In social networks, individuals mesh and mix the professional and the personal, as well as public and private roles in what is directly related to the construction of professional identity in social media (Davis & Jurgenson, 2014). Thus, social media are not neutral regarding constructing the professional identity. But they could be the tools for shaping professional identities of individuals (van Dijck, 2013).

In the growing scientific literature concerning professional identity and social media, the main emphasis is on networked communication (Dimitrova & Wellman, 2015; Marwick & boyd, 2011; Ryberg & Larsen, 2008), construction of online self (Stets & Serpe, 2016), and the relationship between the organizational and professional identity (Davis & Jurgenson, 2014; Stanfield et al., 2017). There is still a lack of scientific literature with a focus on professional identity construction in social media by highlighting aspects regarding convergence of the professional and personal self.

The aim of this systematic review is to gather, review, summarize, and analyze the studies on professional identity construction in social media from various scholar perspectives. The following research question was addressed:

Research Question 1: What are the essential aspects of professional identity construction regarding different discipline-related contexts?

Material and Methods

Search Methods

The searching method by Bettany-Saltikov (2012) was followed in this study by summarizing professional identity construction in social media research literature, focusing on a single question.

Database Searches

The literature search was conducted on three electronic databases. These databases were WoS Core Collection, Scopus, and EBSCOhost (2013-2017). The search strategies were specific to database with the keywords that reflected professional identity, social media, and construction as an integral phenomenon. The search was performed using the following integrated keywords that consisted of complex words: “professional identity construction,” “professional identity development,” “professional identity creation,” “professional identity formation.” The keywords were combined using the Boolean operator AND with the second keyword “social media.”

The four-step procedure was implemented through identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion (Gough, Oliver, & Thomas, 2017). The process of article selection is mapped in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

The map of articles for systematic literature analysis selection process.

In the identification phase, we searched all the open access papers in three databases (2013-2017) and found 7,377 articles.

In the screening phase, all these articles were divided into two groups using keywords “professional identity” and “professional roles.” Articles (in total 2,501), which did not have these keywords in abstracts, were excluded from the next screening. During the review for the abstracts, introductions, and conclusions, we made a synthesis and looked deeper into two groups: (a) we searched for “professional identity construction” and “professional social media identity” in the articles found with the keywords “professional identity”; and (b) we searched for “professional social media roles” in the articles found with the keyword “professional roles.” A total of 2,375 articles were excluded as not matching the criteria.

During the eligibility check of keywords and abstracts following the research question, 325 articles were selected for full-text eligibility and additionally excluded 2,176 articles.

During the inclusion phase, 17 open source full-text articles written in English language with an abstract in English were selected for the detailed analysis. In addition, attention was drawn to the fact that these articles would fall into the “Highly cited in the field” or “Hot papers in the field” categories if they were from the WoS Core Collection. Highly cited in the field papers were automatically defined in Clarivate analytics database as those that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science. Hot papers were articles published in the past 2 years, which are in the top one tenth of 1% (0.1%) for their field and publication period. The Clarivate analytics database automatically calculates whether the article belongs to the “Hot papers in this field” category. In this phase, 308 articles were excluded.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

The following inclusion criteria were used: the full article was published in scientific peer-reviewed journals in English, the article had open access, the article was published between 2013 and 2017, the article content was based on empirical evidence, and the articles were based on an integrated approach covering professional identity in social media with the focus only on development or construction or creation or formation. This study focuses on articles printed over the last 5 years. During that period the incredible growth of the Internet users all over the world is being observed. Open access articles for systematic literature review were chosen. The authors of this research believe that the knowledge society should be open to innovation and open access to scientific resources that facilitates research. Empirical studies with the focus on personal identity development in social media, research abstracts, editorials, reports, data sets, duplicates, letters, conceptual papers, research debates, commentaries and book reviews were excluded.

Ethical Considerations

While conducting the systematic literature review, we ensured the accuracy and fairness of published scholarly data and precision of references. We avoided redundant or duplicate publications, plagiarism, and nontransparent results (Wager & Wiffen, 2011). The following steps were induced: (a) searched in scholar databases WoS Core Collection, Scopus, and EBSCOhost—these databases could be officially used in Vytautas Magnus University, where the authors conducted research; (b) reviewed original full access articles, written in English language; (c) included articles in which ethical approvals, informed consent, and no conflict of interest were specified.

Results

The systematic literature review revealed that the concept of professional identity construction in social media is studied from different perspectives by scholars representing different disciplines: education, management, communication, organizational studies, studies of medical education, medical tourism, neuroscience, and interdisciplinary. Findings of the systematic literature review reveal that professional identity construction in different disciplines is related to different aspects.

Blurring Professional Stereotypes

In education, professional identity construction is studied for different age, gender, society groups, and environments. Professional identity and its relationship with gender and high-level intellectual ability stereotypes were studied by Bian, Leslie, and Cimpian (2017). The authors found that professional identity construction may be shaped by societal stereotypes about gender. The earlier the individuals start to comply with a provision that brilliance is a “male quality,” the stronger its influence may be on their aspirations regarding the chosen profession and construction of professional identity. This stereotype is deeply rooted. Bian et al. (2017) think that artificially created differences in male and female interests are strengthened by social media, could influence learning needs of individuals in different age groups, and could constrict the range and scope of their professional identities. Research by Pinkard, Erete, Martin, and McKinney de Royston (2017) denies the gender-related stereotypes in professional identity construction. One stereotype is that many young women pursue non-STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields of study at university or college. Researchers justified that mentoring, motivation, interactive narratives, and online social networking could help individuals disrupt the racialized and gendered disparities in professional identity construction in STEM study fields. Pinkard et al. (2017) proved that interactive varied-form narratives in social media could motivate individuals to continue with challenging activities and contribute a sense of authentic purpose to the chosen profession and the work that are important aspects in professional identity construction.

In their qualitative research, Copes, Leban, Kerley, and Deitzer (2016) focused on potentially stigmatized behavior and elaborated how research participants’ actions are consistent with self-identification, internalized norms and beliefs, which influence professional identity construction while studying at university or college. Researchers found that stigmatized groups created and maintained symbolic boundaries when constructing professional identities. Social media is one of the factors that influences formation of such symbolic boundaries, which are more fluid than stable and depend on the stigmatized person’s temporal condition.

Both Copes et al. (2016) and Pinkard et al. (2017) agree that construction of professional identity in social media among students is strongly related to individual or collective social identities through their cultural narratives, which determine their professional choices, norms, and expectations.

Belonging to a Group

Professional identity construction in management is researched as virtual communication between people who do not know each other live, but befriend in a virtual professional group (Quinton & Wilson, 2016); the virtual behavior of formal and nonformal leaders of the social media group (Jameson, 2014; Quinton & Wilson, 2016); self-regulatory and autonomous decision-making mechanisms (Dabbagh, Kitsantas, Al-Freih, & Fake, 2015; Papacharissi, 2012); collective interactions (Jameson, 2014; Quinton & Wilson, 2016), distribution of power (Ashforth, Schinoff, & Rogers, 2016), and fictional selves (Jameson, 2014).

Regardless of employment position or professional status, a person could freely identify, express interests, construct and share a professional self in social media and networking sites, widely used for publicizing personal texts—e.g., Facebook (Karapanos, Teixeira, & Gouveia, 2016), WhatsApp (Karapanos et al., 2016), or WeChat (Chu, Lien, & Cao, 2018), and professional sharing—e.g., LinkedIn (Quinton & Wilson, 2016) or Twitter (Jameson, 2014; Papacharissi, 2012). Although a person is often engaged in virtual activities by seeking to express personal identities, in virtual groups professional and personal identities overlap, complement and intertwine in different ways (Jameson, 2014; Papacharissi, 2012).

Ashforth et al. (2016) studied personal identification as a part of professional identity construction and draw a conceptual framework with individual and organization as competing actors. Jameson’s (2014) study shows that social media not only allows the professional audience to grow, but also offers new professional presenting opportunities: the possibility of transferring self-presentation from the personal to the professional and vice versa and discussing controversial professional issues in the public media channels. In social media, professionals, especially those working in managerial positions, need to create ad hoc virtual privacy policies and rules (Karapanos et al., 2016; Papacharissi, 2012).

Justifying the idea about social media as a tool that allows virtual group members to construct their own professional identities by following the leaders of that group, Ashforth et al. (2016) discussed that identity construction in a workplace (physical or virtual) with colleagues (coworkers, leaders, mentors) could be both helpful and harmful, as one individual’s attributes can directly affect another’s sense of self. The behavior of leaders in the work environment affects a person’s professional identity construction and guides professional behavior. Although the target groups and contexts of the research varied, the Ashforth et al. (2016) findings about the leaders’ (named mentors or group models by other researchers) self-regulatory and autonomous decision-making mechanisms and influences on the group and individual were in line with previously described research by Copes et al. (2016), Pinkard et al. (2017), and Bian et al. (2017).

Identity construction of professionals is extensively explained, but how people who are not in formal positions of status or authority and have temporary or nonformal employment relationships manage collective interactions, distribute power, and construct professional identities needs extended studies.

Continuously Reconstructing of Multiple Professional Selves

In communication studies, professional identity construction research focuses on multiple roles of the constantly changing self (Hong et al., 2017), which is influenced by received social media texts, reflected in virtual personal narratives and mirrored in openly published content (Hoyer & Steyaert, 2015). In the narratives, inspired by the person’s professional knowledge, skills, experience, and social interactions, the process of self-regulated learning is foreseen (Dabbagh et al., 2015) and typically been defined as embracing similar, establishing of separate, or resisting construction of, digital identities (Wise & O’Byrne, 2015).

Through self-regulated collective interactions, the blurring of boundaries between private and public spheres and the continuous process of social media identity (re)construction has been observed (Lehti & Kallio, 2017). These authors argue that personal narratives have always been a powerful and widely used device and discuss how social media narratives could structure and organize different professional opinions playing a crucial role in self-presentation. Also, social media enables disadvantaged and stigmatized groups not only to become equal and active participants, but also helps overcome professional stereotypes. These ideas are not new, and fully or partly appeared in Copes et al. (2016) and Pinkard et al. (2017).

Continuous reconstruction of multiple selves is discussed in C. Li and Bernoff’s (2008) social technographic ladder of social media users. In their framework, the process of becoming the social media consumer is explained. When researching the construction of professional identity, it is important to evaluate the social roles people play in social media (Jin, Liu, & Austin, 2014). Although communication in organizations is very complex in nature, researchers identify specific social media professional roles and observe multiple role construction, which is attached to professional identity construction. Individuals, according to Jin et al. (2014), could be clustered as creators, conversationalists, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, or inactives (C. Li & Bernoff, 2008). Mostly researchers focus on three different social media roles within professional identity construction: social media inactives, social media followers, and influential social media creators (Jin et al., 2014). As one of the limitations to professional identity construction Jin et al. (2014) saw social media consumption habits and level of the involvement in the institutional social media networks.

Different strategies of professional identity construction, depending on social media roles and the level of social media consumption, come up (Dimitrova & Wellman, 2015; Hong et al., 2017). Defensive and accommodative organizational strategies and interactions are learned by following the social media narratives. These narratives could emerge not only from work colleagues or other professionals, but also from physically unrecognized persons (Jin et al., 2014; Lehti & Kallio, 2017; Quinton & Wilson, 2016).

Jin et al. (2014) highlighted that in social media both informational and emotional support could be provided. Two types of emotions that influence professional identity construction are identified: attribution independent (e.g., anxiety, appreciation and fear) and attribution dependent (e.g., anger, contempt, disgust).

Complementing the C. Li and Bernoff (2008) and Jin et al.’s (2014) theoretical underpinnings and empirical research, Lehti and Kallio (2017) added silent and missing social media agents and agencies such as authorities or power groups and questioned how actively these parties influence social media professional role change and identity construction.

However, it remains to be examined whether the purpose, virtual audience, or affordances of the social media platform mitigate the construction of multiple professional selves (Jin et al., 2014; van Dijck, 2013; Wise & O’Byrne, 2015).

Merging Public and Private Identities

In organizational studies, professional identity construction is researched as a dimension of networked consumer culture influenced by organizational climate on one side, (Alvesson & Sandberg, 2013) and personal values, norms, and beliefs on the other (Jameson, 2014). These authors state that there is a mutual link between the person and the organization. On one hand, a person flourishes as professional in publicizing and exchanging social media records under the influence of an organizational climate. On the other hand, the organization indirectly affects the person’s professional openness and could control virtual privacy (Jameson, 2014; van Dijck, 2013). Stress in the workplace and the management of networked time also challenges a person’s social media behavior (Jin et al., 2014).

Professional identity construction is linked to institutional conditions and professional norms. Alvesson and Sandberg (2013) discussed that the institutional social environment, professional norms, and normative control in work environment are the major problems in the field, and argued that internalized institutional values, norms, and conditions could help developing social media openness and “virtual gap-spotting habitus.” From the analysis of employee social media habitus, it could be discerned not only how professional identity is constructed, but also how much the employee considers professional activity to be important, relevant, useful, and necessary to an organization and to the professional social media audience.

In the articles empirical evidence was found that individuals who pursue high professional standards and work in organizations with strong informal working rules require a solid response from social media to their professional expectations. If the response from a professional social media audience does not meet the person’s expectations, then resistance to constructing a social media identity is observed (Alvesson & Sandberg, 2013; Wise & O’Byrne, 2015).

Researchers focus on the interplay between professional identity construction, institutional conditions, and professional norms as a tight, regulated system, which is difficult to slow down. In organizational contexts, two more professional roles in addition to C. Li and Bernoff (2008), Jin et al. (2014) and Lehti and Kallio’s (2017) research, specifically “gap-spotter” (the rules follower, but not entirely in a negative sense) and “path-(up) setter” (a person who cares more about the ideas, but not the form of expression) are added.

In professional networks and social media channels, people show their skills and present artificially created idealized portraits of professional identities. For example, in LinkedIn, normative professional behavior, previously examined by Alvesson and Sandberg (2013), was observed (Quinton & Wilson, 2016). Professional identities could be artificially created not only by individuals themselves but also by recruited certified social media professionals.

Although C. Li and Bernoff (2008), Alvesson and Sandberg (2013), Jin et al. (2014), and Lehti and Kallio (2017) researched construction of virtual multiple selves at micro (individual) level, van Dijck (2013) further included mezzo and macro arenas, studying organization (employers), and social media platform (owners) influence on a person’s identity construction. The actors, operating in different arenas, have different interests: Individuals want to build connections and self-present to different professional and personal audiences; employers seek to learn individual (employee’s) networked behavior and present themselves (organizations); platform owners want to collect data, narratives, and connections from individuals and employers. Van Dijck (2013) argues that social media are not neutral stages of self-performance—they are the powerful tools for continuously reconstructing the multiple selves.

Then Alvesson and Sandberg (2013), Cruess, Cruess, and Steinert (2016) studied the identity of a specific profession; van Dijck (2013) claimed that a person does not have several identities. Although different social media platforms exist, and most people presented themselves on Facebook and professionally self-promoted on LinkedIn, identity, according to van Dijck, remains as one. Van Dijck called social media texts “personal and professional branding,” sharing and publishing online—“telling stories.” In the social media, technological solution person equals institution—the same interfaces and tactics apply to both, making institutions and individuals interchangeable. Self-expression and self-promotion, connectedness and connectivity, narratives and databases—everything smoothly integrates in one social media interface strategy. Two important principles emerge and grow—connectivity and narrative. People continuously reconstruct their multiple identities using these two principles.

How emotional intelligence and related psychological factors such as stress, fatigue or fears, influence virtual identity construction, is starting to be studied (e.g., Jin et al., 2014), but remains discussable, as the process of continuous reconstructing of multiple selves goes on unintentionally and unexpectedly. Following van Dijck (2013), further research could develop in these directions: (a) how public identity is shaped through different social media interfaces and technologies, (b) how social media enable and sculpt personal and professional parts of the self, (c) what the consequences of connectivity and uniformity are.

Predicting Virtual Behavior

In medicine, professional identity is associated with the professional behavior, values, and attitudes of the physician. The social media behavior of these professionals could be predictable to control virtual privacy and not to show the personal world (Cruess et al., 2016; McGivern, Currie, Ferlie, Fitzgerald, & Waring, 2015).

The concept of professional identity has a long existence in medical education. The framework for the assessment of professional skills and competence of physicians, explaining how clinical skills, competence, and performance are assessed, was first presented by Miller (1990) in a layered pyramid form. For Cruess et al. (2016) to be a professional in medicine means having knowledge (the lowest and widest level of the educational pyramid), which could be accumulated formally and nonformally and updated in the workplace. When a person reaches the first layer (see Miller’s Pyramid), it could be assumed that he or she knows the behavioral norms expected in the working environment. The second or higher level of the pyramid is called competence and deals with the usage of knowledge. Medical students and later professionals not only gain the new knowledge, but also learn to analyze, interpret, select, and apply the available knowledge. Reaching that level shows a person’s knowledge about the appropriate professional behavior. In addition, people need to step from “know-how” to “show-how”—to implement the objectives (third layer). Being in the third layer, a person demonstrates the expected behavior to coworkers. The fourth pyramid layer shows that a professional at the workplace must not only show what he or she is performing, but also constantly take professional actions and be responsible for these actions. The fifth, or the highest layer, explains the construction of professional identity. Being at the highest level, a person demonstrates the attitudes, values, and behaviors expected in his or her workplace. Although Cruess et al. (2016) mention only self-evidence, self-perception, and self-assessment, the visualization of amended layered pyramid model of professional identity construction could be partly applicable to explain the self-regulated learning in a work place.

Cruess et al. (2016) were not convinced that their amended version of Miller’s pyramid is complete. Researchers suggested continuing the theoretical and empirical research on professional identity construction and argued that if the objective of education is assisting learners to develop their own professional identities so that their behaviors spring from who they are, then the fourth level of Miller’s pyramid—professional actions—could not be enough. In the modern professional world, people change their professional goals, objectives, and vocational learning strategies. Miller’s pyramid model works only in “stable states,” if a person develops only one professional career. Accordingly, the Miller’s pyramid and its adapted Cruess et al. (2016) version could be used to assess professionalism, but only in specific contexts and situations. In addition, Cruess et al. (2016) do not consider contemporary social media as a tool and communication channel. Going deeper into the field, McGivern et al. (2015) differentiated medical staff, who at the same time acted as medical managers (had double professional roles), into two parts—“incidental hybrids” and “willing hybrids” and studied their professional identity change. Hybrid professional roles encompass both professional (technical) and soft skills (interpersonal, creative, entrepreneurial, and others). In many cases, hybrid roles are framed by professionalism and managerial logic. These professional roles allow a person to make decisions more flexibly and slightly blur professional stereotypes. It remains unanswered how a person combines hybrid roles in rigid professional environments, could the social media behavior be predictable in such settings, and how professional identity could be constructed.

Trusting Social Media

Medical tourism could be defined as travel from a place of residence to other countries for medical and dental treatment or cosmetic procedures. It is proven that in medical tourism, client satisfaction is a significant driving force of trust, and this trust plays an essential role in the formation of behavioral intentions regarding medical care (Han & Hyun, 2015).

Hanefeld, Lunt, Smith, and Horsfall (2015) questioned who influences clients’ decisions and found that in a case where an important decision needed to be made, people explore private and public networks and trusted social media recommendations. Besides that, networks help decide about the service provider. These findings indicate the power of social media in choosing various options, services, and solutions.

The qualitative study of Grajales, Sheps, Ho, Novak-Lauscher, and Eysenbach (2014) extended the Hanefeld et al. (2015) research with reviews of social media applications and illustrations of where, how, and why social media could be used for computer-mediated communication in health care. Grajales et al. (2014) raised questions about social media ethics, professional data provision on social media channels, privacy and confidentiality of personal information in social media, and information quality and validity. Both Hanefeld et al. (2015) and Grajales et al. (2014) stated that online information quality is still questionable, because of the difficulty in monitoring social media resources and dependency on a person’s social media literacy.

Grajales et al. (2014) proposed how to determine whether information published in social media is professional and can be trusted. They underlined, that official and verified social media need to present a professional perspective; be confidential and protect users’ privacy; avoid conflicts of interest; be reliable, provide scientific sources and justifications; treat third parties’ content with caution; clearly state the purpose of posting and sharing the information; and provide an official contact regarding company and personal information. Although these requirements are complete and can apply not only to medical tourism, but also to any other social media site, they are subjective and complicated to measure quantitatively.

The topic of social media trust is constantly reviewed. Although the theme of well-designed electronic systems most often investigated by computer specialists and media researchers (e.g., Jensen et al., 2015) is research on more technical details of Internet accessibility, workflow challenges, social media content selection and tailoring, and medical data collection, such types of research mainly focus on technological security, product, and service quality, and client satisfaction issues.

Helping to Maintain Physical and Psychological Balance

In the neurosciences, professional identity construction in social media is observed as the social and physical state of the human body. Lupton (2013) speaks about the contemporary “quantified self,” the voluntary self-tracking and sharing of human body information phenomena. The researcher discusses technologies as an equal actant, which could become “friend” or “colleague” and could be continuously virtually reconstructed.

Mobile digital devices could develop an intimate relationship with the user while monitoring, collecting, displaying, and presenting biometric data; and later making the person more “visible” in social media environments. Hossain and Muhammad (2016) extended the Lupton (2013) research problem, concentrating on technical solutions of health care and monitoring systems: ECG monitoring techniques, signal watermarking, and the Internet of Things. As to how professional identity construction depends on the usage of smart devices and how this influences professional practices, more extensive and in-depth research is required.

Discussion

The systematic literature review revealed professional identity construction as a complex phenomenon, which covers personal (e.g., Ashforth et al., 2016), social, and cultural (e.g., Copes et al., 2016; Lupton, 2013), and vocational and career (e.g., Bian et al., 2017; Pinkard et al., 2017) identity components. Although the links between personal, social, and cultural identity components or parts were being examined, how professional, vocational, and career components complement or cover each other was not researched in the analyzed articles.

Empirical research on professional identity was mostly carried out from the perspective of representatives from business and management (e.g., McGivern et al., 2015), health care professionals (e.g., Wechsler et al., 2017), doctors (e.g., Hossain & Muhammad, 2016), and crisis management specialists (e.g., Jin et al., 2014). However, we did not find any empirical research that would address change in professional identity and the factors that influence it. In modern society, an individual is forced to study continuously, expand professional field or even change the profession or career path. Studying how career changes affect the change (or development) of an individual’s professional identity will lead to deeper understanding of professional identity construction.

Professional identity and its representation in social media were studied by representatives of various sciences (from social to technological and multidisciplinary). The contexts were different; however, most of the researchers only silently manifested the idea that modern technologies and media influence professional identity construction.

In the educational context, scholars focused on how professional stereotypes could change if a person is involved in social media activities. A distinction regarding the use of media in formal and informal learning was studied. Although studies showed that social media forms the link between gender issues and children’s future career choices, insufficient attention was paid to such a type of social media education in schools. Results showed that it is important to study social media narratives more thoroughly. Therefore, these narratives could be observed by teachers and discussed in class (e.g., Bian et al., 2017; Pinkard et al., 2017).

Belonging to a virtual professional group and becoming an informal leader; nonformal professional relationships, communion, cooperation, responsibility at work, and ethical issues among colleagues were resolved in social media environments. Questions solved informally in social media groups influence work activities. Professional communication and learning choices are influenced by a person’s self-presentation in social media and the choosing of informal work-leaders, mentors, and vocational models (e.g., Ashforth et al., 2016). The organizational context of academia was distinguished as one of the most researched cases.

The communication context overlapped with the context of informal learning in the workplace. The systematic literature review showed that in social media presentations of multiple selves, individuals blurred the boundaries between private and public spheres, and this could mainly be seen in a continuous process of reconstructing multiple selves (e.g., Lehti & Kallio, 2017). In addition, narratives helped adults to develop social media communication roles. These roles could be transformed into various professional habits (e.g., Jin et al., 2014; C. Li & Bernoff, 2008). Alvesson and Sandberg (2013) in their study revealed how institutional constraints and professional standards were influenced by social media and argued that for academics, it was easier to construct their professional identities when they disassociate their professional and personal lives. Conversely, van Dijck (2013), stating “you have one identity” and merging public and private roles, challenged research identity construction in social media in various professional contexts.

In the medical context, professional identity construction was linked to the acquisition of new professional knowledge and skills (e.g., Cruess et al., 2016; Miller, 1990). The main limitation of the model of identity construction of medical professionals is its validity under strictly defined professional conditions where you could predict specific professional virtual behavior. Although the Cruess et al. (2016) model disperses professional identity to different layers, it does not explain how a person who already has a certain profession and formally acquired or informally learned a new one constructs professional identity, and how the process develops.

The context of medical tourism showed how the design of a person’s professional identity related to the organization’s self-presentation in social media. Online self-presentation by the organization attracts the recipients of the organization’s services, and this process is built only on trusting social media. When performing a service, an employee of the organization raises professional qualifications, studies at the workplace, and deepens professional skills. The employee’s self-esteem grows, and because of that a person reconstructs professional identity in social media (e.g., Hanefeld et al., 2015). Professional value and attitude incorporation into the professional identity could be explained as additional, and the highest indicator of professional behavior (e.g., Cruess et al., 2016; Stryker & Burke, 2000).

Convergence of professional and personal identities could be incorporated into the Cruess et al. (2016)-amended version of Miller’s pyramid, and the additional social media dimension added. This dimension would create a transparent coating or external occipital layer of Miller’s pyramid. This coating envelops all five levels of the Miller’s pyramid and to some extent affects knowledge, competence, performance, action, and identity. The social media dimension and its effect now is only implicit and needs to be studied empirically.

In the articles discussed, constructing a professional identity in social media is usually understood as a multidisciplinary self-presentation with text, pictures, and video. However, modern wearables and gadgets allow the monitoring, measuring, and recording of an individual’s emotional states and body functions. All these health measurements represent the person and give the tools to publicly construct a professional identity not only through the virtual narratives, but also through individual body signals that help to maintain physical and psychological balance. Lupton (2013) adopted a critical sociological perspective to identify meanings of self-tracking practices. Such a type of studies, although still looking futuristic and techno-utopian, begins a new trend in social media identity investigation.

Conclusion

Professional identity construction is a changing concept, always under development. Social media has a growing importance in the construction of professional identities in society as it offers places where individuals “showcase” their living and professional experiences. They reflect a variety of attributes regarding individual positions in different professional contexts. It makes people play certain characters in the social and professional arena. Social media enables professional identity expression, exploration, and experimentation. It is the social media in real life, which provide a source of names for different sectors that inspire Internet communities and the interactions they make within themselves. It is important to comprehend the motives of agencies to understand group interactions on social platforms. Through and in social media, individuals present themselves to others and determine the way they would like to be perceived, in addition to helping them connect and interact with people and participate in their chosen activities. This study explores practical aspects of identity construction, relating to issues of virtual communities and social media. It also analyzes the probable reasons why individuals feel the need to create a virtual identity for themselves as well as “the spiral of transformation,” that is, the creation period goes beyond the Internet to reach real life. This study also aims at concentrating on virtual communities appearing in social networks, while questioning their social and cultural qualities and values.

The study illuminated that professional identity construction in mediated environments is widely researched, but still, the findings from the different disciplines could overlap. Describing the core themes within the different disciplines on professional identity construction in social media were identified as main areas for the future interdisciplinary research.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by the European Social Fund according to the activity “Development of Competences of Scientists, other Researchers and Students through Practical Research Activities” of Measure No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712.

ORCID iD

Judita Kasperiuniene

Author Biographies

Judita Kasperiuniene, PhD, is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. Currently, her research work focuses on identity construction in mediated environments and network analysis in the social sciences.

Vilma Zydziunaite is a professor and senior researcher at Academy of Educational Sciences of Vytautas Magnus University. She implements multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research projects with the focus higher education, vocational education and training, leadership and qualitative research methodology.

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